How Should You Handle Negativity? Let Amy Poehler Explain

If you didn’t already fall in love with Amy Poehler when you watched her host the Golden Globes (look at this GIF of her canoodling with George Clooney! Look at it!), then you’ll definitely fall in love after you watch this video.

Amy’s Smart Girl video series is back (yay!) and the first video for 2013 is about how to deal with negativity. I’m loving this video because I feel like this is a topic that people don’t address enough, but it’s something that we all deal with on a regular basis. And, obviously, negativity can be a real bummer. How much does it stink when you’re in a happy, singing and dancing mood, and then your Negative Nancy friend ruins it for you with some lame statement about how things suck? It stinks a lot.

Luckily, Amy has some seriously awesome advice. She starts by addressing the fact that everyone in general is way too negative about themselves. Amy says, “We talk about ourselves in ways that we would never talk about our friends and family. We say the meanest things about ourselves out loud, on the Internet, to our friends and in our head.” Unfortunately, this is so true. It brings to mind a scene from Mean Girls, when the girls are all in Regina’s room complaining about random parts of their body, like their “manly shoulders” and “weird hairlines.” Admit it: how many times have you done the same thing with your friends?

How can we stop doing that? As Amy suggests, give yourself a break! I love everything she has to say about accepting compliments. I’m definitely guilty of refusing compliments, as I’m sure most of you can relate to, and Amy’s advice is something I really needed to hear.

My favorite words of wisdom from this video? “People who are negative tend to want to demean people’s ideas. They say what they don’t like, but they don’t really say what they want to do. It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there. It’s very hard to be vulnerable. But those people that do that are the dreamers and the thinkers and the creators and they’re the magic people of the world. So try to strive to be one of those.”

Watch the video right here to listen to everything Amy has to say. I promise she’ll be one of your celeb girl crushes after this:

What do you think of this advice and video? How do you deal with negativity? Have you ever found yourself refusing compliments or complaining about yourself for no real reason? Tell us in the comments!